Running from February 24th to March 7th, this year's edition of the Glasgow
Film Festival boasts six world premieres, two European premieres and 49 UK
premieres. Thanks to COVID restrictions the fest sadly can't host any
physical screenings but the good news is that the online screenings can be
viewed from anywhere in the UK.
We've perused the lineup, which you can find
here, and picked the 10 movies we're most excited to see.
Apples
Greece's Oscar entry comes courtesy of writer-director Christos Nikou. Drawing comparisons with the work
of Charlie Kaufman, Apples is a surreal sci-fi satire set in
a world where a pandemic has resulted in worldwide memory loss. The film
focusses on one man assigned to invent new memories for those
stricken.
Black Bear
Aubrey Plaza steps away from comedy for director Lawrence Michael Levine's dark relationship drama. Plaza plays a
filmmaker who books a stay in a lakeside cabin, where she meets a couple
(Sarah Gadon, Christopher Abbott). A friendly and
flirtatious evening then takes a twisted turn.
Cowboys
Director Anna Kerrigan's frontier drama sees Steve Zahn play
a wastrel father who makes for the Canadian border and a new life for his
transgender son (Sasha Knight). Kerrigan's film plays out its nuanced
human drama against a glorious natural backdrop.
First Cow
With the acclaimed First Cow, writer/director Kelly Reichardt returns to the American frontier
milieu she previously explored with 2010's Meek's Cutoff. Adapted from the novel 'The Half Life' by Jonathan Raymond, the
film is set in the Oregon Territory of the 19th century and stars
John Magaro as a cook who goes into business with a Chinese
immigrant (Orion Lee) based around a prize milking cow. The late
René Auberjonois appears in his final screen role.
Gagarine
French directors Fanny Liatard and Jérémy Trouilh filmed
Gagarine around the real life demolition of a Parisian housing
project named in honour of the Russian cosmonaut. Newcomer
Alséni Bathily plays a space obsessed teen who fights to save his
home, and the memory of Gagarin, from the wrecking ball.
Jumbo
Perhaps the most attention grabbing premise of Glasgow's crop of movies
comes courtesy of writer/director Zoé Wittock's Jumbo. Portrait of a Lady on Fire's Noémie Merlant plays a young woman who conducts an
unconventional romance with (checks notes...) a giant carnival ride. Reviews
suggest the film transcends its potentially gimmicky setup to deliver a
genuinely romantic fable.
Minari
One of the big festival hits on the US circuit last year was this
immigration drama from writer/director Lee Isaac Chung. Set
in the 1980s, Minari follows a Korean family who relocate to
Arkansas, where they establish a farm. Rising star Steven Yeun (Burning) plays the young patriarch in a widely acclaimed turn.
Murmur
One of the best movies we saw on the festival circuit last year was this
intimate character study from first time director Heather Young.
Shan McDonald is devastating and riveting as Donna, an alcoholic who
fills her shabby home with an ever growing collection of abandoned
animals.
Riders of Justice
Mads Mikkelsen follows up his knockout work in
Another Round by reteaming with his
Men & Chicken director Anders Thomas Jensen
for this comic thriller. The great Dane plays a widower who forms a rag tag
band of vigilantes and seeks justice when he learns his wife's death in a
train wreck may have been part of a greater conspiracy.
The Old Ways
Director Christopher Alender's horror movie stars Brigitte Kali Canales
as a journalist who travels to her ancestral homeland of Mexico to look into
rumours of witchcraft. Once there she is abducted by locals who seem is
possessed and in need of an exorcism.